Elizabeth McKay – Literary Love Letters of Robert and Elizabeth (Barrett) Browning – Draft
Literary Love Letters from Robert: How a Courtship of Correspondence Caused a Sensation in a Victorian Woman Poet’s Life
Elizabeth Mouton-Barrett – Early Life
Elizabeth Mouton-Barrett was born to Edward and Mary (formerly Graham Clarke) Mouton-Barrett on 6 March 1806 in County Durham and baptized in the first week of her life (Stone). She was the oldest of twelve children (Encyclopedia Brittanica) — eight boys and four girls, all of whom lived to adulthood except one girl who died at 3-years-old (Stone). The family moved in 1809 to a 500-acre estate in Ledbury, Herefordshire called Hope End (Encyclopedia Britannica). Here, Elizabeth engaged in typical well-to-do family activities such as meals, walks, household play productions and concerts (Stone). One of the opportunities afforded to her by country living was horseback riding which she quite enjoyed (Encyclopedia Britannica). She is said to have started writing verses at the age of four (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning: An Introduction”). Educated at home by a tutor, Elizabeth displayed a penchant for the study of literature; by eight-years-old she had read Homer (in the original Greek) and then set out to write her own epic, The Battle of Marathon, A Poem. In 1819, her father printed 50 copies of the epic poem. In 1821, Elizabeth contracted a nervous condition (some have speculated its origins to be rooted in a spinal injury connected with riding) characterized by a generalized weakness, frequent headaches and fainting spells (Encyclopedia Britannia). When Elizabeth was 20, her mother contracted a fatal illness and her father began to lose his money (and eventually much of his estate). After Mary Mouton-Barrett’s death, the family moved to London.
In 1838, they settled at 50 Wimpole Street. From her London residence, Elizabeth’s literary circle widened and she published The Seraphim and Other Poems (1838). These were the first collections she published under her own name (unlike her previous An Essay On The Mind with Other Peoms (1826) and Prometheus Bound (1833)) (Encyclopedia Britannica). During her stay at Wimpole Street, Elizabeth’s doctors ordered a time of rest by the seaside. She moved temporarily to a resort with her brother Edward who drowned(!) after they had had a disagreement. Rather than the seaside environment helping her health, her shock and sorrow at a death connected to the seaside environment caused Elizabeth’s illness to worsen. As a result, she remained in her bedroom at Wimpole Street for the next five years, only receiving a small circle of family members and close friends as guests (Encyclopedia Britannica). In 1840, she published Poems (also under her own name) and it was this collection that prompted Robert Browning to first write to her.
So begins Robert’s first letter to Elizabeth. Clearly he was deeply moved by her “genius” expressed in her “living poetry,” and to describe a poem as alive is among the highest compliments that I think can be given. Poetry requires engagement of the intellect on the part of the poet, the mind and voice on the part of the reader or speaker. Poetry is meant to be a person-to-person lending of voices and sharing of stories. That Robert describes Elizabeth’s poems as having accomplished precisely that quality of animation is perhaps the highest compliment one poet can give to another.
Noteworthy also is Robert’s articulation of his personal response to her work, “I love your poems with all my heart,” that is a bold and intense claim, especially as the opening line of a first letter! If sharing one’s emotions with another is a vulnerable act, he has situated himself from the start in a most susceptible position. He goes on to describe himself as having “flush[ed] with delight”. Blushing is very interesting in that it is a sort of crossroads between emotional and physiological responses (just as genuine laughter or fear is at the crossroads between emotional and bodily response), this phenomenon was likely interesting to the Victorians. Clearly Robert was deeply impressed.
He goes on to describe himself as “a faithful fellow-craftsman” in relation to her (as they are both poets and artists). Instead of following the common narrative of the Victorian era that men were inherently intellectually superior to women and generally experienced the world quite differently, Robert here places himself and Elizabeth on equal footing on the shared ground of artistry. It would seem rather a contradiction to praise her “genius” while nevertheless placing her beneath him in the artistic hierarchy, and so he elevates her (from the common narrative) to genius and equal.
Without delay, a day later, Elizabeth responded —
____________
Elizabeth at first situates “gratitude and sympathy” in a historical context (“from Tyre to Carthage”) extending into the present, describing the combination as “princely” which gives the impression of high esteem and value. She goes on to ask for the honor of a small amount of criticism from him “(I do not think of troubling you with criticism in detail)” stating that such a response from him would “confer a lasting obligation” on her. In this succinct and clever way, she invites both a literary and personal friendship. Sharing criticism is a common and respected form of communication within literary circles, but that Elizabeth highlights that such an action on his part will confer on her a lasting obligation seems to imply a desire for lasting friendship. She goes on to assert that she might not blindly “obey” all of his suggestions, but that she has “high respect” for his “power… and experience as an artist.” Here, she clearly meets his proposition of their connecting as artists.
She states, as only a writer on the verge of falling in love could, “I have learnt to know your voice, not merely from poetry but from the kindness in it.” This is a striking line because it articulates her responsiveness to him both as a writer worthy of admiration or study and as a friend known by his kindness. It is interesting that her knowledge of his voice comes only from the written word, though she describes in this letter a twinge of sadness at having missed his visit (mentioned in his first letter), that, “It is not my interest however to put such thoughts in your head about its’ being “all for the best”!—& I would rather hope (as I do) that what I lost by one chance I may recover by some future one.” There seems here to be a relationship between her knowledge of his kind writerly voice and her wish to experience the in-person sound of his voice. The parallel of relationship between writerly and spoken voices is not hard to draw, and surely one that she wrote with the intention of him drawing.
They continued correspondence, an exchange of poetic criticism and growing in loving knowledge of each other. They eventually met and ultimately fell in love.
Marriage, Parenthood, Publication and Death
Robert and Elizabeth Browning secretly married on 12 September 1846. After the ceremony, they parted ways and continued to reside at their respective homes for the next week (Encyclopedia Britannica). Elizabeth did not tell her father of their marriage during the week that followed. Edward Mouton-Barrett enacted an extreme form of parental protectionism over his children, perhaps because he thought the husbands of his daughters could not hope to provide the level of material comfort to which they were accustomed (The Brownings Correspondence). Elizabeth’s brother George succinctly explains Edward’s position in a letter to Robert Browning dated 24 December 1888, “Our father was kind & tenderly attached to his children, in excess indeed as he could not bear the idea of a profession or marriage that would bring separation.” As a result of the marriage, as with all of his other children who married (The Brownings Correspondence), Edward promptly disowned Elizabeth.
The couple moved to Florence, Italy. Married life and the Mediterranean climate caused Elizabeth’s health to improve to such a degree that she was able to conceive and carry a child. She gave birth to Robert Wiederman Barrett Browning on 9 March 1849 (Encyclopedia Britannica). In 1850, Elizabeth published a second edition of Poems which included, at her husband’s suggestion, her collection of Sonnets to the Portuguese. In 1856 she published her famous Aurora Leigh poem. She sought to respond to the political turmoil of Italy with her 1851 Casa Guidi Windows and her 1860 Poems Before Congress These works were written to ascertain sympathy for the contemporary Italian cause of unity and independence.
She died on 29 June 1861 in Robert’s arms.
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